Medill Bair

Former Hartford Schools Head

Medill Bair, who as superintendent of schools in Hartford from 1966 to 1972 helped plan the construction of many new schools, died Friday.

He was 79, and lived in St. Helena, Calif.

"Medill Bair was a very good superintendent, I thought," said Robert J. Buckley, a school board member when Bair was superintendent. "I felt he was a visionary."

During Mr. Bair's six years as superintendent in Hartford, he helped plan new buildings for Bulkeley and Weaver high schools, Buckley said. He also helped plan for Fox and Quirk middle schools, among others.

"He was a superintendent who promoted the philosophy that urban kids should have a pleasant and motivating environment in which to learn and study," said Peter Roache, who came to the Hartford schools in 1967 to work as a special assistant to Mr. Bair.

Roache, who is now the school security administrator, said Mr. Bair supported the idea of regional school systems. But that idea did not gain widespread support.

Laurence Cohen, who covered the Hartford schools for The Courant in the early 1970s, remembered Mr. Bair as a skilled, seasoned superintendent who was good at getting federal money for the school system.

Mr. Bair came to Hartford after serving as school superintendent for three years in Carmel, Calif.

Mr. Bair resigned from his Hartford post in September 1972 to take a job in the Boston area.

He retired in the mid-1970s.

Survivors include his wife, Sophia; three daughters, Penny Aguer of Sonoma, Calif, Bonnie Bair of LaCanada-Flintridge, Calif., and Nicki Bair of Santa Monica, Calif; and three grandchildren